Tomas Karger: Author highlights and key takeaways from this year's AI report

Following the launch of Marks & Clerk’s fourth AI Report, Partner and Energy & Environment specialist, Tomas Karger, shared his insights on the rapidly developing role AI has to play in the energy transition. Here are the key highlights from his discussion:

• The energy sector is under unprecedented pressure to transition from conventional energy sources to low and zero-carbon technologies, driven by the Paris Agreement and net-zero targets. This transition requires rapid innovation and the adoption of new technologies in a traditionally risk-averse industry, where large infrastructure projects demand significant time and investment.
• While green AI patent filings are generally increasing, there's an interesting disparity across different renewable energy sectors, with fuel cells, biofuels, and solar leading in terms of green AI patent publications. Other crucial technologies like wind, hydro, and geothermal are showing relatively lower filing numbers. This may be attributed to factors such as high infrastructure costs, physical implementation challenges, and regulatory approval requirements.
• Two significant patent trends are emerging in the energy transition space. First, innovators are using patents as a powerful tool to protect their technology from competitors. Second, there's a growing movement towards innovative licensing programs that aim to accelerate technology adoption through standards and intellectual property sharing - similar to successful models seen in the telecommunications industry.
• Looking ahead, the year-on-year growth in green AI filings shows promise for expanding into hard to reach areas like wind, geothermal, and solar energy. Combined with innovative licensing approaches, this growth could accelerate the adoption of new technologies and help countries meet their net-zero targets within required timeframes.

The Energy & Environment team at Marks & Clerk bring over 50 years of collective experience in both conventional and emerging low-carbon technologies. We look forward to sharing more of their insights, including our interview with Tomas, in 2025.

You can read the full AI report on our website here.